How great is God's grace? Profile of King Manasseh.

Manasseh came to power at age 12. His father was the famous, righteous king Hezikiah. Ironically, his son was the even more famous, and more righteous Josiah, who was responsible for the greatest revival and most consistent faithful leadership of all the kings.
But Manasseh was more infamous than even the kings of Israel. He single handedly brought on the utter destruction of Jerusalem. Here is how his account begins:

2Ki 21:2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
As if this wasn’t enough he surpassed the heathen, of whom God declared that their sins were ‘full’.
Manasseh seduced (Jerusalem) to do MORE evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
Not content with building groves and high places or even the temples that Solomon built for his pagan wives;
And he built altars in the house of the LORD, also; 2Ch 33:7 And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever,
Jewish tradition tells us that Manasseh was the one who had the great prophet Isaiah to be placed inside a hollow log and sawn in two; which is referenced in Hebrews 11:37. His father had been greatly benefited by respecting this incredible prophet.
Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
But if that was an unthinkable sin, how does it compare to the next thing he did, in being used of Satan to wipe out the lineage of the Messiah;
2Ch 33:6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom,

This man was truly the essence of evil, no matter what generation or people you come from, and it just goes on;
and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
2Ki 21:10-14 And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
God’s hand was forced, and it was beyond what the few scriptures can fully convey. We in America may never know what it is like to have God’s wrath poured out so unrestrained:
2Ch 33:11 Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

You would think that God would simply have had the heathen to slay Manasseh, but I guess He wanted Manasseh to suffer long for the things he had done. Some translations say that the enemy put a ring through his nose like an ox, and led him by a cord:
But something awesome and unexpected happened when this most evil of all kings, and the cause of Judah’s destruction was in captivity:
2Ch 33:12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 And prayed unto him...

But the response of God was even more inconceivable!!!
...and God was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.

Only one other king in captivity was ever showed favor, but wasn’t restored to his home and throne!!! Out of all the kings that ever sat on the throne of all Israel, Manasseh stands out, both for the evil he did, and for the incredible, matchless grace he received from God. Why did God single him out - the very worst - to show this immeasurable mercy and lovingkindness to? Saul isn’t even in the same moral boat as Manasseh, and he was cast down, demon oppressed, and then slaughtered shamefully. Many other kings who cannot match Manasseh’s horrible reputation suffered greater; but Manasseh was shown grace and restoration instead. It was not received in vain;
2Ch 33:15 And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
2Ch 33:16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

In the reign of his father, it is said that in the last few years, while Manasseh was being raised up, Hezekiah was a negative influence on his son, slipping away from his former whole hearted devotion.
But when we look at the way Manasseh himself actually attempted a revival, undoing the evil he’d done, and restoring Jerusalem to the city of God, it is no marvel that when his son Josiah was growing up, he was most likely influenced to begin the greatest revival and devotion of all history!
So although his sins cannot be redeemed, he was able to accomplish something so good that it had no equal. Of course, Josiah had been prophesied by name, ages before to the king of Israel, but no one could have imagined that this holy Josiah would come from the loins of a king so evil that he made the kings of Israel look righteous.
Israel was so wiped out by the Assyrians, that they are hardly traceable since then. The Samaritans, i.e., Samaritan woman at the well, and Good Samaritan who helped the robbed man, are the offspring of those Jews, having been mingled with Gentile blood, and so regarded as untouchable and despicable by the pure-blood Jews.
And yet it may be questioned whether what they did was so egregious as Jerusalem who had the temple in their midst, but defiled it with altars and idols of devils! They directly profaned the house and name of God, even burying the book of the law within the temple. It took weeks of cleaning to find it under Josiah’s reign.
So, the question is, why was God so restrained and merciful and so gracious to Jerusalem and her most notorious king? How great is this grace of God?
 

seeingeyes

Newbie
Nov 29, 2011
8,944
809
Backwoods, Ohio
✟27,860.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
How great is this grace of God?
Agreed, God's grace is crazy good. ;)

So although his sins cannot be redeemed ...

Cannot? Here's what Jeremiah 31 says:

“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather them
and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’
For the Lord will ransom Jacob
and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they"


So not only can God through His grace redeem Manasseh's sins, Jeremiah (who, of course, was a prophet after Manasseh's reign) says that He will.


His grace is so great that He redeems all kinds of unredeemable things. Far be it from me to put limits on God grace. (If I did, I would no doubt bump up against the limit!)
 
Upvote 0
Agreed, God's grace is crazy good. ;)
His grace is so great that He redeems all kinds of unredeemable things. Far be it from me to put limits on God grace. (If I did, I would no doubt bump up against the limit!)

Yeah, I'm not sure we mean the same thing by redeeming his 'sins', instead of redeeming the man from his sins.
For instance, although David did much damage through his adultery and murder, God redeemed the very sin by choosing the son of the woman he stole to be the next king. It is written in such a touching way:
David is corrected by Nathan and repents bitterly. The baby dies.
Then David 'comforted' Bathsheba and slept with her.
Solomon is born, and God sent Nathan (I think), the very prophet who accused him, to give David a special nickname for this child of adultery and bloodshed - Jedidiah, loved of God.
But I can't see any sin of Manasseh being redeemed this way. As far as I see, it was a total loss; however, God redeemed him FROM the loss, and that produced revival.

Maybe I'm just lamenting my own life, though...
 
Upvote 0

seeingeyes

Newbie
Nov 29, 2011
8,944
809
Backwoods, Ohio
✟27,860.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Yeah, I'm not sure we mean the same thing by redeeming his 'sins', instead of redeeming the man from his sins.

Hmm...I have been (like everyone in the western world) highly influenced by individualism. We hang our hats on Ezekiel 18:20: "The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him."

But then we ignore the thread of communal sin that runs throughout the Bible, too. Wait, "ignore" is too strong of a word. More like, we can't see it because we have no cultural context for "communal sin" except for in evil cases like racism.

We are like the South American folks who first saw a Spanish ship pull up to the coast. The only word we have for it is "canoe"...but that's not quite right...

So when I read the story of Manasseh, here's what I see:

Manasseh was not just any old guy, but king of Israel. As such, he had responsibility not only over his own sins, but in some sense over the sins of the people as well. His sins were their sins, too. Somehow. See, this is where the words fail me, so..."canoe". ;)

This is evidenced by how God dealt with Manasseh's sins. If Manasseh is the guilty one, then why not just take him around back and shoot him? Why let such a corrupt king reign for 55 years? Why bring "disaster on Jerusalem", when one well-placed rock to the forehead would do the trick?

But we know that God is not only just, but He is slow to anger and abounding in love. His plan is not to destroy all sin, but to redeem all sin- a much harder task. When we see Manasseh in 2 Chron, he doesn't just change his mind and say "yep, God is really God". Instead it says that "In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers." And God heard him. And God redeemed him. And God restored Him.

And not only was Manasseh redeemed from his personal sins, but from his communal sins as well. God put it in his heart to undo the idol-worshipping damage throughout Israel that the king himself had enstated. In my lifetime, I have never seen a politician admit that his former policies were evil. No, Manasseh was a new man.

And what of the sins of Israel that Manasseh contributed to? Well, as that verse in Jeremiah shows, God is working on that too. He is working on reconciling the whole world to Himself. He is working on me, and He is working on you. And somehow He is working on all of us collectively, too. (Canoe!)

God's will be done. :)
 
Upvote 0
May I add just a small correction? (Accuracy seems important to you.)

Josiah was actually Manasseh's grandson. Amon was his son. Though he is easy to miss because he was only king for two years. :)

Really? You'd think I would have caught that over all the years I've been telling the story; but now that I remember it, it was a preacher's sermon that gave me that bad information in the first place. Maybe I misunderstood. I have to stop being so lazy and hasty in my research. Yes, accuracy is important, as my points are based on the facts. If the facts are wrong, then like this, the whole point of the story has no meaning.
 
Upvote 0

seeingeyes

Newbie
Nov 29, 2011
8,944
809
Backwoods, Ohio
✟27,860.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Yes, accuracy is important, as my points are based on the facts. If the facts are wrong, then like this, the whole point of the story has no meaning.

Mmm..I don't think that the whole story has no meaning, it's just, perhaps, a little less cut and dried. Josiah would have been six when his grandfather Manasseh died, and he was eight when he became king himself. It's likely that he never knew Manasseh as a "bad king", but learned reverence for God right from birth in his grandpa's lap.
 
Upvote 0

seeingeyes

Newbie
Nov 29, 2011
8,944
809
Backwoods, Ohio
✟27,860.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Thank you for redeeming my story! Maybe I should just send them to you for editing before I post them from now on! Don't worry, I'm just kidding.

Oh, and what a beautiful image you painted there with the grandpa.

See? He redeems all things. All of 'em. Every last one. He can't be stopped! Praise God!
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums